Welcome to the new digital edition of Australia
and New Zealand Outlook, a magazine ďŹ lled
with informative articles for travellers and
migrants, as well as packed with expert advice
on moving Down Under, real-life stories,
working, living and travelling.
Around 200,000 Brits leave these shores every year to
start a new life overseas and many move Down Under.
Australia regularly tops the polls when it comes to which
countries most Britons would choose to emigrate to and
its desirability stems from so many factors - it is a country
where the quality of life is very high, the employment
prospects are plentiful, the education available is world
class and the healthcare facilities are very good.
This month we look at the
opportunities for Brits in Australia
and New Zealand, visa changes,
visit Melbourne, talk tax, and expat
Carly shares her experiences.
Australian and New Zealand
Outlook is available every month
as a digital magazine and every
quarter as a printed edition,
distributed at selected outlets.

If you’re born and raised
in a country where people
celebrate Christmas with
a beach barbecue, it’s
understandable that
you might turn out a
little... eccentric

32 What's on...

Our guide to the
unmissable events,
holidays and celebrations in
Australia and New Zealand
this month

44 Next month
AUSTRALIAANDNEWZEALAND

OUTLOOK

05

NEWS
Bomb hoax suspect arrested in US
A man has been arrested in
the United States after a collar
containing a hoax bomb was
attached around the neck of 18-yearold Madeleine Pulver in Sydney.
The 50-year-old Australian businessman
– named by the FBI as Paul “Doug” Peters has been arrested in Louisville, Kentucky, in
an operation involving Australian police and
the FBI.
He was arrested by detectives from the
Robbery and Serious Crime Squad’s Strike
Force Haddon at about 5.45am AEST on
August 16, ABC news reported.
Police will ask a US court to extradite
him to Australia, and plan to charge him
with aggravated breaking and entering
and kidnapping.

Miss Pulver spent
10 hours with
a fake bomb
attached to her
neck after a balaclava-clad intruder broke
into the family’s Mosman mansion and
strapped it to her on August 3.
Technicians from the NSW Police Bomb
Squad worked overnight for 10 hours to
remove the device from the 18-year-old.
The device was found not to contain
any explosives.
Her dad, Bill Pulver, is the chief
executive of Appen Butler Hill, a linguistic
software company that specialises in voice
recognition software.
No one else is being sought in connection
to the crime.

S
N
I
O
J
L
L
E
KEW RNE VICTORY
MELBOU

ational, who has
The Australia intern
country and scored
won 54 caps for his
300 top-ﬂight
16 goals, played over
matches in England.
n of Sydney in 1995
He left his hometow
s
in England with Leed
as a teenager to play
signed a three
verpool.
The 32-year-old has
before moving to Li
nal
three
er
aft
m
tea
Champions League ﬁ
ue
ag
the
Le
in
He featured
deal with the A.
so
er to do
th Galatasaray.
the only Australian ev
seasons in Turkey wi
in in 2005,
y
pla
to
ion
ce that Harry
un
bit
no
am
an
my
e are delighted to
“W
“It has always been
ve
our club,” Victory
d I am pleased to ha
has chosen to play for
my home country an
rne
ou
elb
Pietro said.
ying for M
chairman Anthony Di
that opportunity by pla
d.
Victory,” Kewell sai

Liverpool
Former Leeds and
ewell will play
midﬁelder Harry K
Australia
top-ﬂight football in
ter joining
for the ﬁrst time af
Melbourne Victory.
-year

06

www.anzoutlook.com

ALL THE LATEST NEWS FROM AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

Victoria man loses legs in homemade explosion
Two men are ﬁghting
for their lives in
Melbourne hospitals
after an improvised
explosive device blew
up in their backyard.
One man lost both legs
and another suffered lifethreatening burns when
a homemade explosive
device blew up at the
rural home.
The two men were
mixing chemicals in a
container in front of a
group of neighbours at the
Cannons Creek property,

southeast of Melbourne,
when it exploded shortly
after 11pm (AEST) on
August 21.
Both are now fighting
for their lives in
Melbourne hospitals.
A paramedic on scene,
Ben Meadley, likened the
injuries to those typically
found in a war zone,
saying a 24-year-old man
had “complete or near
amputation” of his legs and
a hand.
“One (patient) had
severe airway burns and

the second patient suffered
severe blast-type injuries,
the type of injury you’d
more liken to what you’d
see in a war situation rather
than in outer suburban
Melbourne,” he said.
It’s believed the accident
was essentially fun gone
wrong – with the men
mixing the chemicals
to make an improvised
explosive device, possibly
a rocket.
Neighbours said the
explosion was felt in
nearby homes.

Man who killed father with axe jailed
A Melbourne man was killed by
his son using a tomahawk he kept
by his bed to protect himself from
the younger man.
Zlatko “Boris” Svetina, who was
jailed for 11 years for defensive
homicide, turned the power off before
entering his father Tomislav Svetina’s
home late at night.
Svetina easily prised the tomahawk
from his frail 74-year-old father’s grip and
used it against him in a brutal fashion.
He struck his father about 10 times to

the head and face, including at least three
times while he lay or crouched on the ﬂoor,
then left him to die.
Mr Svetina blamed his son for his marriage
breaking up and for him being jailed for
assaulting his wife, Zlatko’s mother.
Justice Geoffrey Nettle said it was unclear
whether Mr Svetina ambushed his son or
whether the son took his father by surprise,
but it was clear that the son was able to take
the tomahawk from his father.
In June, a jury found Zlatko Svetina, 54,
guilty of defensive homicide.

AUSTRALIAANDNEWZEALAND

OUTLOOK

07

NEWS
Foster's rejects new SABMiller bid
Foster’s Group has again rejected
a hostile takeover bid by UK-based
SABMiller plc, saying once more
that the offer price signiﬁcantly
undervalues the company.

“The board of Foster’s, together with
its advisers, has carefully considered the
proposed offer and intends to unanimously
recommend shareholders reject the offer,”
Foster’s said in a statement on August 18.
Foster’s said the offer also was diminished
by conditions attached, including 90 percent
acceptance by Foster’s shareholders.
The offer also would be reduced by the

value of any dividends that the Foster’s board
might pay during the offer period.
The takeover also requires approval from
Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board
and the competition watchdog, the Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission.
“Foster’s shareholders are advised to
take no action and ignore all documents and
communications from SABMiller in relation
to its proposed offer,” the Foster’s board said.
The bid is similar to an earlier
proposal put to Foster’s by SABMiller
in June, which Foster’s also rejected as
undervaluing the group.

REBELS SWEEP
INTO

LIBYAN CAPITA
L

The momentum ag
ainst the Gaddaﬁ
regime has reache
d a tipping point,
with Libyan rebels
sweeping into
capital Tripoli on A
ugust 21.

he should face the
international charg
es that
are against him,” Au
stralian Prime Min
ister
Julia Gillard said.
“We will as a natio
n
continue to suppor
As the rebels swept int
t the people of Liby
o city’s heart, crowds
a on
what we want to se
took to the streets to
e as a journey to pe
celebrate what they saw
ace
as the
and democracy.”
end of Muammar Ga
ddaﬁ’s four decades
of
po
we
r.
A government ﬁghtba
Rebels waving oppo
ck was reported as
sition ﬂags and ﬁrin
g
dawn broke on Augu
into the air drove int
st 22.
o Green Square, a sy
mbolic
Tanks emerged from
showcase the govern
Gaddaﬁ’s stronghold
ment which had un
til
in
the
recently been used
centre of the Libyan
for mass demonstra
capital and were
tions by
shelling the area, Al
pro-Gaddaﬁ suppor
Jazeera television rep
ters. Rebels immedia
orted.
tely
Heavy ﬁghting was
began calling it Mart
taking place around
yrs Square.
Gaddaﬁ’s compound
According to reports,
.
two of Gaddaﬁ’s
A rebel spokesman
sons were captured
says pro-Gaddaﬁ fo
during the siege, bu
rces
t the
still control 15-20 pe
whereabouts of Gadd
rcent of Tripoli.
aﬁ himself were un
kn
ow
n.
The United States ha
“We continue to ca
s recognised the
ll on Colonel Gadd
aﬁ to Transitional Na
get out of the way
tional Council as the
and of course we be
legitimate
lieve
governing authority
in Libya.
08

www.anzoutlook.com

ALL THE LATEST NEWS FROM AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

F
E
I
R
B
N
I
S
NEW
ent and dangerous”
Victims of a “persist
red and embraced
pedophile have chee
ey court after
each other in a Sydn
tenced to at least
their abuser was sen
drew Dean
20 years in prison. An
icting pain”
McIntosh “enjoyed inﬂ
tally raped
on the four boys he bru
ee decades,
and assaulted over thr
nane. And he
said Judge Michael Fin
“intention at all” of
appeared to have no
f.
rehabilitating himsel
a house where
family used
cousins of the Ibrahim
g the innocent
to live, nearly woundin
one beyond
people inside, have “g

Gunmen who shot at

ur bullets were ﬁred
stupid”, police say. Fo
,
eet, Merrylands West
at a home in Eddy Str
on
out 9.35pm (AEST)
in Sydney’s west, ab
August 21.

cision to axe
equence of a strong
1000 jobs is the cons
d a patchwork
Australian dollar an
easurer Wayne
economy, federal Tr
maker announced
Swan says. The steels as a part of a
its decision to axe job
ting
company after repor
restructuring of the
st
gu
Au
year loss on
a A$1.05 billion full
s an “awful day”
wa
22. Mr Swan said it
a
ected in the Illawarr
for those workers aff
.
region and in Victoria

BlueScope Steel’s de

Aussie experts may save Edinburgh Festival
Australian expertise will be
called on to help host the 2012
Edinburgh Festival as local knowhow is drained by the coinciding
Olympic Games, a London
newspaper has reported.
The world’s largest arts and cultural
festival will clash directly with the Games in
July and August next year, leaving a severe
shortage of technicians and road crew with
experience in ﬁelds such as sound, lighting
and staging, The Guardian newspaper said.
The festivals are likely to need to hire staff

from other parts of Europe, Scandinavia, even
Australia, theatre director Anthony Alderson
told the paper.
“Building an event the size of the
Olympics is takes a hell of a lot of people.
Who’s going to come to build the Edinburgh
Festival next year?” Alderson, from one of
the festival’s big four venues, the Pleasance
theatre, said.
Organisers of Britain’s popular
Glastonbury festival have already cancelled
their June 2012 event because of the Games
and its associated demands.

AUSTRALIAANDNEWZEALAND

OUTLOOK

09

NEWS

UK RIOTS:
FOURTH NIGHT OF

VIOLENCE
Violence erupted again
August 9 as England
faced a fourth night
of looting, rioting and
other criminality, with
trouble spreading to
several cities, although
the capital London
stayed quiet.

There were reports
of looting and unrest in
Manchester, Salford,
Liverpool, Nottingham and
Birmingham with shops
being set alight.
In Birmingham, three
men died when they were
hit by a car; local media
claims they were protecting
their neighbourhood.
Police have lunched a
murder inquiry.
So far, some 108 people
have been arrested following
the trouble in Manchester
and Salford, where
“copycat” youths clashed

with the police as they
looted shops and set ﬁre to
cars and buildings.
In the West Midlands,
109 have been arrested and
23 charged following scenes
of disorder in Birmingham,
Wolverhampton and
West Bromwich.
In Nottingham, Canning
Circus police station
was ﬁrebombed.
In Liverpool, Merseyside
Police arrested 50 people in
relation to violence in the city.
London stayed relatively
quiet after Downing Street
increased level of policing.

The government said it
would remain in place
“as long as necessary”
to prevent a repeat of the
violent scenes that shocked
the world on Monday.
It said while there was
“no complacency,” police
tactics in London had
“clearly worked”.
A massive clean-up
operation is under way in
areas affected by the riots
across England.
Twitter and Facebook
users are harnessing the
power of social networking
to co-ordinate operations.

AUSTRALIAANDNEWZEALAND

OUTLOOK

11

migration update
Skilled
migration
reform
supporting Australia's growing economy - Minister
Australia’s migration
programme continues
to “deliver its economic
and social aims for
a healthy economy”,
the Minister for
Immigration and
Citizenship, Chris
Bowen MP, has announced.
Releasing the ﬁnal outcomes for the
2010–11 Migration Programme, Bowen
said the Gillard Government’s ongoing
skilled migration reforms were ensuring
critical skills needs in high-demand sectors
and regional areas were being addressed.
‘The government is supporting our
growing economy and meeting family
reunion objectives, while ensuring we
meet the skill shortages in areas of high
demand,’ Bowen said.
The total outcome for the 2010–11
Migration Programme was 168,685 places
against a planning level of 168 700. The
2010–11 skill stream outcome of 113,725
places accounted for 67.4 percent of the
total Migration Programme.
Bowen said the Labor Government had
more than doubled the number of places
speciﬁcally set aside for regional Australia
since it took ofﬁce.
‘In 2011–12 the government is going even
further with 16,000 places for the Regional
Sponsored Migration Scheme – a 60 percent
increase on last year’s levels,’ he said.

12

www.anzoutlook.com

There was also an increase
to the top priority employersponsored programme to 39
percent of the skill stream,
part of the government’s
policy to directly target skills
shortages through a more demanddriven approach.
‘Skilled migrants deliver signiﬁcant
beneﬁts to the Australian economy as
their employment contributes to economic
growth and their relative youth offsets
some of the impacts of the ageing labour
force,’ Bowen said.
China was Australia’s largest source of
migrants with a total 29,547 places or 17.5
percent of the total migration program in
2010–11.
The United Kingdom and India followed,
with 23,931 and 21,768, respectively.
Bowen added that the government’s
new skilled migrant selection register,
SkillSelect, would be introduced from 1
July 2012.
‘SkillSelect will ensure that visas are
allocated to the best and brightest skilled
migrants so that the Migration Program
can better meet the needs of Australian
businesses,’ he said.
The Migration Programme Outcomes
2010–11 report can be found on
the Department of Immigration and
Citizenship website.

UK unemployment hits 2.49 million
The total number of
unemployed people in
the UK has reached
2.49 million (7.9 percent
of the population),
rising by 38,000 in the
three months to June,
according to ofﬁcial
ﬁgures from the
Ofﬁce for National
Statistics (ONS).

The number of people
unemployed for up to six
months increased by 66,000
over the quarter to reach
1.23 million. This is the
largest quarterly increase
since the three months to
June 2009, ONS said.
The number of
unemployed men increased
by 18,000 on the quarter to

reach 1.45 million, while
the number of unemployed
women increased by 21,000
on the quarter to reach 1.05
million, the highest ﬁgure
since the three months to
May 1988.
The number of people
claiming Jobseeker’s
Allowance was 1.56 million
in July, up 37,100 on June.

Push for new three-year working visa
The Australian states and territories
want a new three-year working
visa for international graduates in
areas of skill shortage, according to
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh.
She said she put the issue on the
agenda at a recent Council of Australian
Governments (COAG) meeting in Canberra
and was successful in getting the support
from the states and territories.
Bligh said the move would help to stop
the decline in international student numbers
and would also prepare the nation for the
next mining boom.
“Australia is on the cusp of a resources
boom and we are facing a looming skills
crisis,” she said in a statement.
“We shouldn’t be discouraging young,
enthusiastic workers who are keen to ﬁll
these roles.”
The resources sector alone is expected to

generate 38,000 jobs in the next few years,
Bligh explained.
The Australian Council for Private
Education and Training (ACPET) has
welcomed the initiative.
Chief executive Claire Field said
international education is one of Australia’s
great export success stories but it is under
threat because the student visa system is out
of step with the rest of the world.
“A thriving, effective, international
education sector, with close links to industry
and supported by a student visa system
that is efﬁcient and effective, is one of the
best assets our nation has to address the
challenge of skills shortages that threaten
many industries,” she said in a statement.
The international education and training
sector is Queensland’s third-largest export
earner, directly and indirectly employing
more than 17,000 in the state.

AUSTRALIAANDNEWZEALAND

OUTLOOK

13

migration update
Aus unemployment rises NZ expensive
for expats,
Australia’s unemployment rate is now at an eight
month high and may even rise further in coming
months as business conﬁdence gets knocked
around by the global markets turmoil.
The Australian economy added just 41,400 jobs in the
ﬁrst seven months of the year, less than half the required
number to keep the unemployment rate steady.
The unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent in July, the
highest level since November 2010, from 4.9 percent in June,
the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said.
Economists had expected unemployment to stay at
4.9 percent.

Backpackers to get a

Sydney car market
Sydneysiders
frustrated at a lack
of parking at popular
tourist suburbs may
soon experience
some reprieve.
The Sydney of City
Council hopes that a new car
market where backpackers
can sell their unwanted
vehicles will free up on-street
parking spaces for residents.
In a motion passed on
August 22, the council
voted to create a 40-space
car market in the Kings
Cross parking station for
backpackers’ vehicles.
14

www.anzoutlook.com

“It will give backpackers an
alternative space to sell their
vehicles where they’re not
clogging our streets,” Lord
Mayor Clover Moore said in
a statement.
“In the peak of summer,
when the number of vehicles
increases, there could be as
many as 20 to 30 additional car
spaces available on the street.”
The market will be open
24 hours from Monday to
Thursday and from 9am until
5pm Friday to Sunday.
The council hopes the car
market will be opened before
the end of the year.

but cheaper

than Oz
The strength of the dollar
has made New Zealand
a more expensive place
for expatriates to move
to, but it remains far
cheaper than Australia.
In Mercer’s annual cost
of living survey, Auckland
has moved up to 118th place
from 149 the year before,
while Wellington rose to 136
from 163.
Sydney moved up 10
places to 14, Melbourne
lifted from 33 to 21, Perth
surged 30 places to rank 30,
Canberra rose 40 places to
34, and Adelaide was up 44
places to 46.
Sarah Barnaby of
Mercer said that rising
costs, due to currency
ﬂuctuations and natural
disasters had presented
challenges for multinational
organisations managing
workforces in New Zealand,
but that did not diminish its
appeal to expatriates or
their employers.

Keep track of the latest news and
developments on moving Down Under

NZ salary and wages ASB raises NZ fixed

up 1.9 percent mortgage rates
New Zealand salary and wage rates,
which include overtime, increased
1.9 percent in the year to the June
quarter, Statistics New Zealand says.
That included a rise of 0.4 percent in the
June quarter.
The latest annual increase in the labour
cost index (LCI) follows a 1.9 percent
rise in the year to the March quarter and
a 1.7 percent increase in the year to the
December quarter.
After the 2008/09 recession, annual wage
rate growth reached a low of 1.5 percent in
the year to the March 2010 quarter.

Salary and wage rates for the private
sector increased two percent in the year to
the June quarter, following a two percent
increase in the year to the March quarter.
Public sector rates rose 1.5 percent in
the year to the June quarter, following a 1.4
percent rise in the year to the March quarter.
For more info visit http://www.
stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/
economic_indicators/prices_indexes/
LabourCostIndexSalaryandWageRates_
MRJun11qtr.aspx

ASB, a unit of Commonwealth Bank
of Australia, has raised its ﬁxedterm mortgage rates even though
the Reserve Bank of New Zealand
(RBNZ) left the ofﬁcial cash rate
(OCR) unchanged at 2.5 percent.
The move comes after Westpac increased its
six-month mortgage lending rate by 26 basis
points to 5.85 percent and its one-year capped
rate by 25 basis points to 6.75 percent.
Westpac New Zealand chief executive
George Frazis said on August 3 that
none of the major banks in New Zealand
were trying to make their mark as a price
discounter and this created a more rational
credit pricing environment.
Westpac New Zealand had doubled its return
on equity in the past two years from about 8 per
cent to close to 15 per cent, he said.
ASB hiked its ﬁxed mortgage rates by
between ﬁve and 40 basis points.
The one-year rate was now 6.15 percent,
the 18 month rate was 6.40 percent, two-year
rate 6.65 percent, three-year rate 6.95 percent,
four-year rate 7.35 percent, and ﬁve-year rate
7.75 percent.

AUSTRALIAANDNEWZEALAND

OUTLOOK

15

ASK THE EXPERT
Expert advice on all things
visas, migration and more

Q
A

In the year I leave the
UK , am I entitled to
a tax refund?

While
everyone’s
circumstances
are different,
up to the
king
if you were wor
date you left and you left part way
through a tax year then it is very
nd.
likely that you are due a tax refu
rs
aye
taxp
that
is
this
The reason for
ain
cert
resident in the UK (and
are
classes of non residents as well)
ce
entitled to a UK personal allowan
the
(£7,475 2011/12). Those within
l
ona
pers
r
thei
PAYE system have
(or
allowance split into monthly
inst
weekly) amounts and offset aga
.
day
pay
h
eac
their salary at
As a result, if a taxpayer leaves
r,
the UK part way through a tax yea
r
they have not been allocated thei
,a
full personal allowance and as such
.
due
refund is generally
Finally it is also worth noting that
inst
certain expenses can be offset aga
is
employment income. Where this
r
afte
ed
plet
com
be
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The
.
med
clai
the tax year and a refund
rules are complex but as a general
olly,
guide the expenses must be “wh
rred
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rily
essa
exclusively and nec

I have a property in the UK that I
have been renting since 1996.
I will be migrating to Australia in
two months on a permanent
visa and intend to stay. I have rece
ived advice that if I sell
the property in a different tax year
from when I become tax
resident in Aus I will have no Cap
ital Gains Tax liability from the UK
Tax
Ofﬁce. Instead I will only be liable
for Aus gains tax from any rise in
value from
when I become Aus tax resident to
when I sell. Could anyone clarify this
point?
Does a different tax year mean I coul
d sell after next April?
Tim, Surrey

in the
Return annually as long as you reta
Tim, as you will
property and let it.
be leaving the UK
Turning now to the UK Tax
permanently midway
T is
consequences of disposal: UK CG
through a tax year,
only
is
it
ns
a territorial tax which mea
Statutory
you will be able to utilise Extra
inarily
levied on taxpayers who are ord
ns
Concession A11. Basically this mea
nt to point
resident in the UK. It is importa
me
Inco
UK
for
ted
trea
be
will
that you
ital
out here that Income Tax and Cap
the UK
Tax purposes as non resident in
taxes.
inct
dist
Gains Tax (CGT) are very
As a
from the date of your departure.
ESC
to
CGT does have an ESC similar
le for
non resident you will only be liab
does not
A11 which is called ESC D2. It
me.
inco
rced
sou
UK
on
Tax
me
UK Inco
a result,
however apply in your case. As
your UK
Therefore, if you continue to let
year
tax
the
l
you will need to wait unti
you will
property once you have departed,
if you
re
after the tax year of your departu
on that
need to continue to pay UK tax
any gain
wish to avoid paying UK tax on
will
rces
sou
UK
non
from
me
Inco
income.
tion you
on disposal. Based on the informa
not be taxable in the UK.
need
will
you
ns
have provided, that mea
You should also register as a Non
to wait until 6 April 2012.
will allow
Resident landlord (NRL) which
While your intention is to leave
gross. If
you to receive your rental income
do change so please
r tenant or permanently, things
you don’t register as an NRL you
rn to the UK within
deduct 20 note that if you retu
letting agent is legally obliged to
then any
ﬁve tax years of your departure
to HMRC
percent from the rent and pay it
ed when
gains realised on property you own
unt
acco
no
s
take
this
As
alf.
beh
r
on you
to UK
you left will become chargeable
mortgage
of tax deductible expenses (like
UK.
the
in
k
CGT on your arrival bac
be
interest) it means you will probably
tralia
Aus
to
Finally, as you are moving
t I have
paying too much UK tax. One poin
you will
permanently it is highly likely that
as an
ed
ster
regi
g
bein
le
whi
:
here
ss
to stre
gain on
have to pay Australian tax on any
r rents
NRL does allow you to receive you
an tax
trali
Aus
take
disposal and you should
UK
gross, it does not exempt you from
advice accordingly.
to ﬁle a
Income Tax. You will still need

A

AUSTRALIAANDNEWZEALAND

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17

ASK THE EXPERT

Q
A

A friend who rece
ntly immigrated to
ld
me I should cash
in my ISA before
I
leave. Is that good
advice?

Unfortunately as we
are not regulated
Financial Advisors
we cannot advise on
ition or
whether you should liquidate a pos
r are
not. What we can advise on howeve
the tax consequences of doing so.
ing
I am assuming that you are leav
lt
resu
a
result,
the UK permanently and as
on their worldwide income. As a
Not
and
t
iden
Res
Non
ome
will bec
will be
while income arising in the ISA
from the
likely
Ordinarily Resident (NRNOR)
very
is
it
tax,
sheltered from UK
in
date of your departure.
ble
taxa
that the ISA income will be
le you
The ﬁrst thing to note is that whi
your new home country.
leave, as
can maintain your ISA once you
From a tax perspective, it would
be able
a NRNOR taxpayer you will not
efore that the beneﬁts of the
your ISA. appear ther
word
to contribute additional funds to
ISA no longer exist. That said, a
any
an
Your ISA will continue to shelter
of caution – you should check with
tax.
UK
from
it
in
with
ing
aris
relocate
income
advisor in whatever country you
note is
to tax
However, the important thing to
seek
s
doe
tion
to that that jurisdic
a
this is
that an ISA is only tax efﬁcient from
ed,
tion
worldwide income. As men
the UK,
and
ons
UK perspective. Once you leave
a general rule but there are excepti
ntly
ane
perm
le
sett
will
you
tax
to
I assume
if the new jurisdiction doesn’t seek
stion
cial to
eﬁ
in another jurisdiction. Your que
ben
be
may
it
worldwide income,
rule
.
doesn’t state where but as a general
tive
pec
keep the ISA from a tax pers
dents
most countries seek to tax their resi

UK to move
abroad?
Don’t forget to tie up those
loose ends.
By Seamus Murphy and Nick
Petrov of Taxback.com

I

t can be quite a chore
trying to understand the tax
consequences of leaving the
UK. Every year thousands
of people leave and most never give much
thought to whether they still have obligations
to HMRC; worse still, many leave and
never reclaim overpaid tax. Here we’ve put
together some top tips to help you avoid the
most common mistakes:

Claim
that refund
One of the most common mistakes made by
taxpayers leaving the UK is the failure to
claim a refund of overpaid tax.
All UK taxpayers (and some non
residents) are entitled to a UK Personal
Allowance (basically a tax free allowance).
For PAYE taxpayers, their personal allowance

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is split into weekly or monthly amounts and
offset against their weekly or monthly wages.
A taxpayer who leaves the UK part way
through a tax year therefore does not get the
full beneﬁt of their personal allowance and in
most cases, overpays UK tax.
To reclaim the overpayment a claim must
be submitted to HMRC. Many departing
taxpayers however are not aware of this and
needlessly leave their money with HMRC.
The timeframe for making this claim is
currently 6 years but it is being revised down
to 4 years very shortly.
Self-employed (self assessed) taxpayers
on the other hand are subject to a different
method of tax collection. Rather than the tax
being taken via PAYE, they must ﬁle a Tax
Return annually, declaring their income and
working out their tax liability.

The tax itself is paid as follows:
31st Jan – 1st Payment on
Account (POA);
31st July – 2nd POA;
31st Jan next – Balancing payment - the
difference between the amount paid as
POA’s and the ﬁnal liability becomes due.
A self-assessed taxpayer who leaves the UK
part way through the year may therefore
have overpaid tax as a result of their POA’s.
The POA’s are an estimate of the current year
liability based on the prior year. If a trader
ceases part way through a year therefore, the
POA’s are likely to be excessive.
Any overpaid tax should come out in the
wash when the taxpayer ﬁles his ﬁnal Tax
Return but it’s important to remember that
the Tax Return must be submitted.

Moving overseas
Register as a Non
Resident Landlord
This is only relevant to taxpayers leaving the
UK and letting their UK property. It is however
an immensely common area of confusion.
The term non-resident landlord (NRL) is
a misnomer; in reality someone is classiﬁed
as an NRL if they let UK property and their
usual place of abode is outside the UK.
The main consequence of being an NRL
is that the tenant or letting agent is legally
obliged to deduct basic rate tax (20%) from
the rental income and pay it direct to HMRC.
The problems with this are two-fold:
1. As the 20% is deducted from the rents
before any allowance is given for tax
deductible expenditure (e.g mortgage
interest), it will be in excess of the real
tax liability.
2. While this excess can be reclaimed,
it will only be received after the Tax
Return has been submitted. The result
is a loss of cash ﬂow.
The above scenario can be avoided by
registering with HMRC’s NRL scheme.
Once a taxpayer is registered, the tenant/
letting agent is not required to deduct tax
at source. The NRL can receive the rental
income gross. A word of warning though,
while the NRL does allow for gross rent
receipt, it does not exempt the income
from UK tax and the NRL will need to
ﬁle a UK Tax Return annually and pay the
corresponding UK tax due.
Finally, most countries operate a
Residency tax system – this means they levy
tax on their residents’ worldwide income.
While some countries (notably Hong Kong)
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operate a Territorial system, the majority
are Residency based. As such, a taxpayer
departing the UK is likely to be subject to tax
in his new home country on his worldwide
income - including his UK rental income.
In these scenarios advice should be
taken on the speciﬁc rules in the foreign
jurisdiction but in general there should be
some form of double tax relief available
in that country for UK tax paid on the UK
rental income.

Sort
out your Bank Accounts
For those UK taxpayers leaving the UK but
intending to retain their UK bank accounts,
one aspect often overlooked is the fact that
it is possible to receive interest without the
deduction of tax.
Savers who are ‘not ordinarily resident’ in
the UK can complete Form R105 to receive
their interest without UK tax taken off.
Unfortunately Banks are not required to accept
a R105 so not all Banks offer this facility.
As in the case of the UK rental income
discussed above, while it may be possible to
avoid UK tax, advice should be taken in the
foreign jurisdiction to which the taxpayer
is emigrating as to the tax status of the UK
interest in that country.

Pension
Issues
The whole area of pensions is highly
complex and confusing to many taxpayers
and this is not surprising given the number
of changes we’ve had since April 2006.
While there are many things we could
say about the good and bad of migrating
to a QROPS (Qualifying Recognised
Overseas Pension Schemes), that would be
an article in itself.
Instead we’re just going to focus on the
scenario where a UK taxpayer is receiving
a UK pension and moves overseas.
As a general rule, non residents of
the UK are taxable on their UK source
income. That said, many Double Tax
Treaties (DTT) speciﬁcally address the
topic of pensions. Double Tax Treaties do
exactly what they say on the tin – they are
bilateral agreements between countries
which ensure the residents of those
countries do not suffer double taxation.
The pension article in most DTTs

allocates the taxing rights to the country
of residence. A good example is the UKAustralia Treaty.
So as an example, consider a UK taxpayer
in receipt of a UK pension who moves
permanently to Australia: in the absence of
the DTT, the UK pension would be subject
to UK PAYE at source. However, because of
the terms set out in the UK-Australia DTT,
the UK pension is in fact exempt from UK
tax but taxable in Australia.
In order to ensure the pension is not subject to
UK PAYE the correct form must be completed.
The forms are available for download at
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/app_dtt.htm
A taxpayer who has moved to Australia
but has not ﬁlled out the correct form is
likely to be receiving his pension net of UK
Tax through PAYE. As a result, he will have
overpaid UK tax. Fortunately a refund can
be claimed so all is not lost. The deadline for
claiming the refund is 6 years, soon to be cut
to 4 years.

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23

Expat PROFILE

Carly
s
’
Story
By Chris Farnell

T

he way
things
have been
in the UK
you couldn’t be blamed
for wanting to see whether
pastures were greener
elsewhere - Carly Derisz
decided to do just that.
That’s why a year ago she
and her partner moved to
Melbourne: “My partner
Kieran, who I met in the UK,
is Australian and when the
opportunity arose to invest
in a business out here, we

24

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both jumped at the chance,
mostly because the situation
in the UK was becoming
pretty dire, particularly on
the political and employment
front but also just for a
change of scene.”
While Australia might
have seemed like the
obvious choice for Carly
and Kieran, they didn’t
move there by default.
For a while it looked like
they were going to be
heading to Europe. Carly
explains: “Kieran wasn’t

dying to go home, we had
also considered moving to
Germany, but we were both
very keen to leave the UK.
In the end it was a tossup between Sydney and
Melbourne based on where
the business was most likely
to succeed, and for me,
Melbourne as the cultural
heart of Australia, with
its reputation for amazing
theatre, fantastic food and
interesting and diverse bars,
was the obvious choice and I
don’t regret it one bit.”

Making
the move
Since then things have been going well for
Carly and Kieran. They’ve started up their
own software business, RTS Solutions,
which Carly works out of as a contractor.
Her current role is as the bid coordinator
with UGL on a tender for the Regional Rail
Link Project.
“The tender is submitted in two weeks
after nine months of really hard work,” Carly
says. “So ﬁngers crossed that we win!”
While her and Kieran’s business is already
well established, Carly is still working to get
a long-term VISA for the country, as they
moved to Australia at quite short notice.
“I have found the process quite stressful
at times and incredibly invasive,” Carly
admits. “Particularly the sort of information
you have to supply to prove you are in a
committed and true relationship. However, in
comparisons to some of my friends here who
are from non-Commonwealth countries and
are applying on a different VISA, it’s been
a breeze and will be granted fairly quickly.
Friends of mine have been going through the
VISA process of upwards of four years.”

The cultural diversity
is wonderful, in a different
way to the UK as there is a
different mix of cultures. There
is a massive South-East Asian
community here so good, cheap
food is in abundance
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25

Expat PROFILE

ACarly’s
newnever
home
regretted making the move,
but there are still things she misses from the
UK however.
“I miss decent curry – Indian food here
is weak in comparison to the good stuff we
get back home!” she tells us. “I miss the
BBC (Aussie TV is more or less all like ITV,
rubbish!), a better selection of newspapers,
and football, or soccer as they call it here,
although am getting quite into AFL – you
don’t have much choice living in Victoria.”
Naturally, she’s also missing her
loved ones in the UK as well. “The time
difference makes it really difﬁcult to
coordinate phone calls often – thank
goodness for email and Facebook!”
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Still, while the UK has its plus points, Carly
loves her new home.
“The cultural diversity is wonderful,
in a different way to the UK as there is
a different mix of cultures,” Carly says.
“There is a massive South-East Asian
community here so good, cheap food is in
abundance. I love that Melbourne has all
the high points of city living but is actually
quite small and it feels very safe. The
Aussies don’t think so, but compared to
London or Bristol where I am from, it’s a
walk in the park!”
Ironically, that diversity can make it
difﬁcult to mingle with non-Brits.
“There are so many Poms out here,”

Carly says. “It is easy to group together
because of your shared sense of culture
and humour!”
She’s also correct a few of her
preconceptions about Down Under. Asked
about the biggest surprises about the move,
Carly says, “The lack of gigantic spiders I
have encountered, but then I haven’t been to
the outback much! On a more serious note,
I am surprised every day by how far behind
the UK Australia is, especially in terms
of gay and women’s rights. Gay marriage
is illegal here and both the main political
parties refuse to put the discussion on the
table despite a huge swing to the left on
the issue. It may also surprise you to learn

that, in Victoria at least, abortion was only
legalised two years ago and is deﬁnitely still
quite taboo.”
If you’re thinking of following in
Carly’s footsteps Carly can’t recommend it
enough- but she does have some advice for
prospective poms: “I wish I’d known how
expensive clothes and shoes are – I would
have happily paid to ship far more clothing
from the UK here in the ﬁrst place instead
of sending half my belongings to
charity shops!”
Visit Carly and Kieran’s business here:
www.rts-solutions.net

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27

TRAVELLER'S GUIDE

Melbourne
The Bright Lights of

Australia and New
Zealand Outlook visits
Victoriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s state capital.

28

www.anzoutlook.com

By Chris Farnell

M

elbourne is popularly
known as Australia’s
cultural capital. This
may be just because
it wants to stick it to Sydney- the city of
Canberra was founded when neither Sydney
or Melbourne could decide who’d get
to be Australia’s capital, and for the last
two centuries the title of Australia’s most
populace city has been passed between the
two of them- it’s due to return to Melbourne
around 2038. So Sydney may get to have an
opera house shaped like the sale of a pirate
ship, but the title of culture capital has still
been claimed by Melbourne.
It’s a title the city has worked hard for, and
while you’re in Melbourne you’ll ﬁnd plenty
to sate your cultural appetites.

Taking
in a show
If you’re a ﬁlm buff, check out the Australian
Centre for the Moving Image on Federation
Square. The centre “celebrates, explores and
promotes the cultural and creative richness
of the moving image in all its forms - ﬁlm,
television and digital culture”. It’s a great
place to go see an arthouse ﬂick, see some
cool installations and plays host to all kinds
of live events and creative workshops.
If a live show is more your thing, pay
a visit to the Malthouse Theatre in the
Melbourne Arts District on Southbank.
This theatre was originally a brewery
and malting works, but now plays host
to as many as twenty productions a year,
including contemporary opera, cabaret and
drama. Some of the productions they’re
showing over the next season are Look Right

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TRAVELLER'S GUIDE
Through Me, whose plot sounds like a
more whimsical version of The Hangover,
a cabaret version of classic Hans Christian
Anderson fairytale Little Matchstick
Girl, and my personal favourite title ever,
Ganesh Versus The Third Reich, which
is actually about an elephant headed god
going one on one with Adolf Hitler (He
wants to reclaim the swastika as icon of
Hindu culture apparently).

Going
for a drink
Of course, there’s more to culture than
sitting in neat little rows and having it
pumped into your eyeballs. Some of the
best culture happens when you just go into
a space full of people and really immerse
yourself in the local atmosphere of a placepreferably a place that sells beer and has a
reasonably eclectic juke box.
In Melbourne such spots are abundant,
although the good ones require a bit of
exploring to ﬁnd. Some of Melbourne’s
best pubs are tucked into narrow alleyways
and backstreets, and it’s not uncommon to
ﬁnd the door to a great dive bar nestled in
between a couple of bins!
Good places to check out include the
charmingly named Sweatshop- a basement
bar hidden away under its much swankier
sister bar The Seamstress on Lonsdale
Street. With a range of classic bar snacks
and Asian cooking, a decent selection of
beers and downright threatening range of
cocktails, it’s worth stopping in for a drink.
Out on Bourke Street you can get a drink
at Madame Brussels, a pub named after a
famous 19th century Melbourne brothel

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owner. Meanwhile, on Tattersall’s Lane you
can ﬁnd a temple to Australian ingenuity in
the form of Section 8. Rather than an actual
building, Section 8 consists of a shipping
container in a car park surrounded by some
cushioned packing crates with a few outdoor
heaters scattered about. The result is one of
Melbourne’s coolest outdoor drinking spots.

Buildings
worth seeing
Bars aren’t the only buildings worth
visiting in Melbourne however- one of
Melbourne’s trademarks is its range of
fantastic and bizarre architecture. Buildings
to look out for include the Melbourne
Recital Centre that looks like a giant
beehive made out of Lego- in a good way!
After marvelling at how it was built, you
can even take in a show there. Of course,
if you’ve been to the Australian Centre for
the Moving Image you’ll have already seen
Federation Square, which looks like it was
built by drunk alien robots.

Getting
about
Melbourne is a place with tonnes to see and
do, but fortunately getting around the city
is a breeze. Melbourne’s tram network isn’t
just a cheap and convenient way to get from
A to B, but also a great way to see the city.
The network consists of 250 km (155.3 mi)
of track, 487 trams, 28 routes, and 1,773
stops, and is considered to be the pride of
the city. In fact, it’s the largest tram network
in the world. Of course, the citizens of
Melbourne would love to point out that the
largest tram network in Australia used to be
Sydney’s- but they don’t have that anymore.

et’s
face it,
Australia
is weird.
Mammals lay eggs, water
goes down the plughole
the wrong way and when
you throw sticks they come
back. If you’re born and

raised in a country where
people celebrate Christmas
with a beach barbecue, it’s
understandable that you
might turn out a little...
eccentric. So it’s no surprise
that Australia plays host to
some pretty unusual events.
Here, we review the most

The Nude Olympics
There have been many criticisms of
Britain’s handling of the London 2012
Olympics, but perhaps its biggest ﬂaw
has been the insistence that both audience
and athletes wear clothes during all
competitions. Back in the eighties Australia
caught wind of this market niche.
Featuring events ranging from sprints,
marathons and tug of war through to “Best
Bum” and “Magniﬁcent Moms”, like the
regular Olympics, these events celebrate
the very best of human accomplishment.

bizarre Australian events,
using a ﬁve platypus
rating system - With
the platypus being the
standard measuring unit
for Australian
weirdness.

5

Platypus Rating:

The original ancient Greek Olympics were
already in the nude, so this is hardly bizarre
at all.

AUSTRALIAANDNEWZEALAND

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33

weird events
Parkes Elvis Festival
In the second week of January every year
the streets of the town of Parkes in New
South Wales are overrun with an army of
Elvis Presley impersonators, like some sort
of Rock and Roll zombie apocalypse. Over
the next few days visitors will bear witness
to the Elvis Gospel Church Service, Elvis
Golf Day and the Elvis Street Parade.

4

Platypus Rating:
Elvis has left the building.

3

Henley-on-Todd Regatta
We’ve told you before about Darwin’s
famous beer can regatta- where contestan
ts
race boats built of beer cans. The citiz
ens of
Alice Springs took one look at that, thou
ght
it was far too sane, and decided to thro
w
their own version with an extra dose of
crazy.
So they hold their boat race on the Todd
River- which is most notable for its com
plete
lack of water. Instead, the sailors mak
e
their way to the ﬁnish-line Flintstones
style,
sticking their legs through holes in the
bottom
of their boat and running for the ﬁnish
.

Platypus Rating:
Some of them dress up as Vikings. You
don’t take costumes from 8th century
Norway to
Australia’s Northern Territories with
out a few platypuses worth of weirdnes
s.

34

www.anzoutlook.com

Cane Toad Racing
The history of cane toad racing
goes back to 1933, when a bunch of
Australian scientists completely missed
the point of the song “There Was An
Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly”.
In an attempt to wipe out the beetles
damaging their sugarcane crops they
released a bunch of large, poisonous
South American toads into the wild. This plan
backﬁred with
all the inevitability of an episode of Chuckle-B
rothers.
Since then, Australians have come up with
many novel
uses for the cane toad, from using them to
make wallets
to licking them to get high. It was only a
matter of time
before someone decided to race them.
The racing toads are collected in a bucket,
are numbered
and named, then competitors are issued a
toad that they are
instructed to kiss. The toads do not turn into
princes. They
are put back in the bucket, which is place
d upside down on
the centre of the ﬂoor, when the bucket is lifted
, the ﬁrst toad
to get off the ﬂoor wins.

1
Platypus Rating:

They throw ﬁsh!

2
Platypus Rating:

Now we’re starting to
see some proper
Ripley’s Believe It or Not
levels of weird.

Tunarama
r event isn’t going to
If you’re ever worried that you
the sufﬁx “arama” to the
be insane enough, try adding
The website describes
end of its title. It never fails.
s biggest and most
Tunarama as “South Australia’
trepiece of the festival is
popular free event” and the cen
n- which is exactly what it
its “Tuna tossing” competitio
it in turns to see how far
sounds like. Competitors take
y see who can hurl a big
they can throw a large tuna. The
is the one who can propel
ﬁsh the furthest. The winner
bridae” the greatest
a member of the family “Scom
ase that makes it sound
distance. There is no way to phr
any more sensible.

AUSTRALIAANDNEWZEALAND

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35

What’s on...
27aug

Australian
Football League Finals Series
Brunton Ave, East Melbourne, Victoria
This is a must see – and the spectacular crescendo of 24 weeks
of fantastic competition in the 2011 AFL season. From March
to September, Australian Rules Football teams battle it out
to make the top eight and qualify for the ﬁnal series. This
titanic contest is between two teams with one emerging as the
premier side for the year. Close to 95,000 fans pack the stands
of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for the grand ﬁnal,
while millions watch it worldwide on cable, satellite and free
to air television. The ﬁnal series offers sheer atmosphere and
excitement and is a truly unique Australian experience.
www.aﬂ.com.au

Brisbane Festival
4
2
3- pt

se

6-s1ep7t

36

Brisbane City, Brisbane, Queensland
September is Festival time in Brisbane! Brisbane will
be in full festive swing as acclaimed international
and Australian artists and productions, free outdoor
events, home grown productions and the cutting edge
and offbeat burst across theatres, galleries, parks and
public spaces. Brisbane Festival will intrigue, delight
and inspire with a programme embracing dance, theatre,
opera, classical music, visual arts, circus, sideshow and
contemporary music. The Festival caters for an amazingly
broad audience and is easily accessible with an extensive
range of both free and ticketed events.
www.brisbanefestival.com.au

World Water Ski Racing
Championships

Hornibrook Esplanade, Redcliffe City, Queensland
This event is the World Water Ski Racing Championships
held every two years. Competitors from approximately 12
countries throughout Europe, United States of America,
Australia and New Zealand come to compete. This is the
ﬁrst time this event has been held in Queensland.
www.skiracing.com.au
www.anzoutlook.com

.

Our guide to the unmissable events,
holidays and celebrations in Australia
and New Zealand this month
Bigsound
420 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley,
Queensland
Bigsound is Australia’s biggest celebration
of breaking artists and music industry
networking, drawing top national and
international industry talent to Brisbane
each year. It is a great place to discover
new music!
www.bigsound.org.au

Melbourne
Fringe Festival

Cnr Queensberry & Errol
Streets, North Melbourne,
Victoria
Unique, intriguing, exciting and
enticing, Melbourne Fringe is
guaranteed to deliver the newest,
smartest and most inspirational
art in the country this spring. The
2011 Melbourne Fringe boasts
hundreds of shows in venues across
Melbourne featuring more than
4000 artists.
www.melbournefringe.com.au

MELBOURNE CUP

Spring
Racing Carnival
400 Epsom Rd, Flemington, Victoria
The Spring Racing Carnival is a world-class
event showcasing thoroughbred racing,
fashion and entertainment at its ﬁnest over
50 fabulous days across Victoria. From
Camperdown to Caulﬁeld, Manangatang to
Moonee Valley, you will love the excitement
and fervour of racing at both metropolitan
and country tracks.
www.springracingcarnival.com.au
AUSTRALIAANDNEWZEALAND

OUTLOOK

7-se9pt
2e1p-t 9oct
s

0
2
2se8pt nov

37

12

next
issue

O
27 Se n sale
pt 20
11

AFL Grand Final
The spectacular crescendo
of 24 weeks of fantastic
competition

Traveller's guide to
Queenstown
Queenstown is to New
Zealand what Ko Phan
Ngan is to Thailand

Australia in Spring
September is the ﬁrst month
of the southern spring and
it’s a season of regrowth
and ﬂowers.

Homesick?
Missing sand between your toes?
SMS Management & Technology (SMS) is Australia’s premier home-grown
IT management consulting company employing over 1600 technology and
business professionals across Australia, Hong Kong and Vietnam.
SMS will pay your fare home (partners and children included) to join any
one of its Australian ofﬁces in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne
and Sydney if you meet our requirements.
SMS works across a wide range of industries, most notably ﬁnancial
services, government, telecommunications, health, defence, utilities,
airlines and mining. Candidates from any of these industries are
of particular interest, as are those with management and technical
consulting experience.
Would you like to join us in 2011? We’ll be conducting interviews in
Manchester and London over two weeks commencing 19 March.
Applications should be forwarded through the SMS website at
www.smsmt.com with a detailed letter providing additional
relevant information.
Applicants will be advised soon after their application has been received if
an interview is to be arranged.
If you would like to meet us at the ‘Working In’ Australian Recruiting
Expo in Manchester 19/20 March or London 26/27 March, contact us
for a complimentary visitor’s pass.